Religion: John Paul II Charms the Crowds

And gives signs of being a strong-minded Pope

Almost as soon as the white woolen pallium of office was draped around
his shoulders, Pope John Paul II began asserting a vigorous personal
style. Before week's end that style ruffled the Vatican's starchy
bureaucracy, but it also charmed a watching world.

More than 200,000 people were packed into St. Peter's Square when Karol
Cardinal Wojtyla, 58, Archbishop of Cracow, received the ceremonial
vestment as the 263rd successor to St. Peter and spiritual leader of
some 700 million Roman Catholics. As the Cardinals of the church filed...